Guided by Book Arts and Design teacher Rebecca Goodale, learn basic art and design principles of using achromatic (no color – only grays) values to achieve balance and interest in compositions.

There are no available registration dates at this time.

NOTE: This Class will meet in a live, online format using the Zoom Platform.
Class meets 3 Wednesday evenings, Mar 1, 8, and 15,  6-8pm EST.

Rope, Detail - By Rebecca Goodale
Rope, Detail – By Rebecca Goodale

In this Introduction to Design and the Visual Book Series, you can take both three-week workshops or either one. In the second workshop, we will cover the basic art and design principles of using achromatic (no color – only grays) values to achieve balance and interest in compositions.

This will be a two-hour zoom class for three weeks with a small amount of homework each week.

Achromatic Values: Contrast and Subtleties, we will cover:

  1. Study of shadows ink wash and the Banner Book
  2. Gray with gray – Simultaneous contrast, gray lines, gray shapes, and the varied fore-edge of a single section book.
  3. Gray pages, an undulation of value in the Compound structure

Supplies needed:

  • Pack of Canson Mi-Tientes Grey Tones Paper 12 x 16
  • X-acto knife and blades
  • White dental floss, white or black binder’s thread, or black or white or gray embroidery floss
  • Black and white bottle of ink
  • A set of small brushes (or anything you have on hand)
  • Pencil and notebook
  • Small Elmer’s glue (or PVA if you have it)

This workshop is part of the Introduction to Design and the Visual Book Series:

  1. Black and White – Balance and composition (Online)
  2. Achromatic Values: Contrast and Subtleties and the Visual Book 2 (Online) – This workshop.

Images by Rebecca Goodale.

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Instructor: Rebecca Goodale

For the past twenty years, Rebecca Goodale has been creating a series of artist’s books about Maine’s rare plants and animals. Recently she has been revisiting her training as a textile designer by employing that aesthetic and various printmaking techniques to create large-scale repeatable patterns. Rebecca has taught Book Arts and Design at the University of Southern Maine for 4 decades. Her work is in many collections including the Maine Women Writers Collection at UNE, Bowdoin College Library, Herron Art Library at IUPUI, Boston Athenaeum, Yale University, Harvard University, the Library of Congress, and the Portland Museum of Art.

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